Case Comment: A New Framework for the Implication of Terms in Fact

• Main Author: GOH, Yihan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Commercial Law; Contracts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1387; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3339/viewcontent/gyh_FramworkTermsFact_2013.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In Sembcorp Marine Ltd v PPL Holdings Pte Ltd the Singapore Court of Appeal once again reaffirmed the Singapore courts’ rejection of the approach adopted by Lord Hoffmann in Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom Ltd which characterised the implication of a term in fact as a process of contractual interpretation. What may be of interest to practitioners and academics of common law jurisdictions wrestling with the implications of the Belize approach is the Court of Appeal’s prescription of ‘a three-step process’ for the implication of terms in fact, which is accompanied by an in-depth discussion of various conceptual aspects of this area of law. These observations provide a different insight into this area of law, and suggest a test that is more practically applicable than the Belize approach.